


How to Bring Someone Back from the Dead

by dianawritesfic



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fuck Canon, M/M, Post-Canon Fix-It, Resurrection, Underworld, until it's not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-01 07:16:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21434284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dianawritesfic/pseuds/dianawritesfic
Summary: He finds it in the library. The book is tucked between a couple of self-help books that Mike told him he should look into reading. It’s out of place—doesn’t belong there—but the title peaks his curiosity. How to Bring Someone Back from the Dead. He grabs the spine of the book and gently holds it in his hand, inspecting it. There’s no author, no other information, just a title and a short dedication of sorts on the first page. “For those that have hope still lingering in their hearts…” He looks around, making sure no one is watching him before he swiftly hides the small book in the pocket of his jacket.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 40
Kudos: 84





	1. The Book

He finds it in the library. The book is tucked between a couple of self-help books that Mike told him he should look into reading. It’s out of place—doesn’t belong there—but the title peaks his curiosity.  _ How to Bring Someone Back from the Dead _ . He grabs the spine of the book and gently holds it in his hand, inspecting it. There’s no author, no other information, just a title and a short dedication of sorts on the first page.  _ “For those that have hope still lingering in their hearts…” _ He looks around, making sure no one is watching him before he swiftly hides the small book in the pocket of his jacket.

The book stays hidden in his pocket for the rest of the day while he thinks about what to do with it. Every now and then, he’ll find himself checking to make sure it’s still there. As his fingers gently stroke the mysterious book, he finds himself thinking of Eddie. Ever since that heartbreaking night in the underbelly of the Neibolt house, his thoughts have been of nothing else but the man he had loved. Still loved. Despite being gone, Richie’s heart refuses to let go. It was almost as if he still had... _ Hope. _

He gasps, fingers clutching onto the book—too afraid that it would disappear if he dared to let it go—as the word echoes continuously in his head.  _ Hope _ . He couldn’t explain it, wouldn’t even question it. All Richie knew was that finding this book was definitely no accident. It couldn’t be. The timing was too...He shakes his head, pushing images of a dying Eddie out of his mind before they could overwhelm him. Instead, he focuses all his energy on getting to the townhouse, rushing up the stairs and locking the door of his room behind him.

Richie allows himself a moment to breath, to close his eyes and will his heart to calm down. He gently takes the book out of his pocket as he sits down on his bed, opening it up and turning to the first page. He scans all the words, but he can’t help but focus on two lines in particular.  _ “Make sure that it wasn’t their time to die. If it was, do not try to bring them back.” _ He thinks about this until it’s time to meet up with Mike for dinner. He thinks about it as they eat together and Richie inadvertently ignores all the questions Mike throws at him in an attempt to stave off the awkward silence growing between them.

“Rich! Hey man, what’s going on with you today?”

Richie blinks, suddenly remembering where he is and who he’s with. He looks sheepishly up at his friend as he sets down his fork. He wants to tell Mike about the book. He wants so desperately for someone to tell him that he isn’t going crazy and that this book is indeed a second chance. A second chance at happiness with Eddie. He doesn’t though, not directly at least. 

“Back at Neibolt house, when...you know…” He begins, unsure of how to ask the question. “Do you think it was his time to die?”

Mike looks back at him with a worried expression on his face, one that makes Richie bow his head and blush. He shouldn’t have asked. He should know that questions like this only lead to talks of getting “professional” help. A talk he was tired of having not only with Mike, but with his other friends as well. He needs time. That’s what he tells them. He needs time to grieve and process the fact that Eddie is gone. Going to see a therapist would mean accepting that Eddie was gone, and he wasn’t ready for that, not just yet. Especially not after finding  _ that _ book today. 

“I think…” Mike sighs as he tries to find the best way to word whatever he’s about to tell him. “I think that no one deserved to die because of that fucking clown. Not Eddie. Not Stan. Not any of his victims. I don’t  _ know _ if it was his time to die, no one can ever  _ really _ be sure when it’s their time, Richie. But, I do believe that Eddie was taken from us too soon.”

After dinner, he throws himself on his bed, staring up at the ceiling as he mulls over Mike’s words. “No one can ever really be sure when it’s their time, _ ”  _ he says to himself as he considers going through with trying to bring Eddie back. He’s been in Derry for almost six months—spent Christmas and New Years with Mike—that the townhouse has basically become his home. He hasn’t thought about when he would leave and dodges the question whenever it happens to come up in conversation with one of the others. 

He takes the book in his hand and lifts it above him, staring at the cover as he slowly begins to smile. He finds himself once again thinking about how maybe all of this was meant to be. How staying in Derry for months after everything went down lead to the discovery of this book in his hands. There had to be a reason. That reason, he thinks, is a second chance at saving Eddie. Determined, he gets up, flipping through the book until he gets to the page he’s looking for. He reads over the words carefully, pulling out his phone and making a list of everything he’ll need.

_ You will need two coats, a quarter, a white rose, a blanket, a flashlight, extra batteries, lots of food and water, and an object of importance to the deceased (a necklace, a beloved book, etc). _

He takes into consideration how easy it will be to get each of the items on the list. The rose and food would have to be bought closer to his departure, but the others things he could start gathering now. It’s the last part that has him faltering as he digs through his pockets in search of a quarter.  _ “An object of importance to the deceased.” _ Richie’s eyebrows furrow as he racks his brain about what could have possibly been an item of importance to Eddie, what he could possibly use. He thinks about Eddie’s inhaler, how he always had an attachment to it, but then realizes that it’s gone. Charred and buried underneath the Neibolt house. 

His heart sinks at the realization that this journey may not be possible, before it suddenly hits him. The ring. Richie jumps out of his bed, tripping repeatedly as he makes his way to his suitcase. Digging through it, he cheers triumphantly as he finds what he’s looking for. It’s a clunky ruby ring, one that looks like it’s seen better days. Richie noticed Eddie never took off until…that night. It was reminiscent of the Captain Midnight ring that Eddie wore when they were younger. Richie had given him that ring, he remembers that quite clearly. The way Eddie’s face lit up as Richie presented him with the prize was something he thought he would never forget. He did, but that wasn’t his fault. The further away he got from Derry, the more he began to forget, until Eddie completely slipped from his memory.

  
Eddie never took that ring off, had treasured it as if it were a real ruby ring Richie had given him. He didn’t think anything of it back then, ignored the way his stomach began to flutter at the thought of Eddie treasuring something he had given him so deeply. The fact that Eddie had continued to wear a ruby ring as an adult, even if it wasn’t the same ring Richie had given him, had to mean  _ something _ . This is it, he decides. This is Eddie’s object of importance.


	2. The Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Look to your left when it becomes too dark to see. You will see a white glow in the distance. Walk towards it._
> 
> It isn’t quite too dark yet. He can still see everything in front of him, so he continues to walk straight ahead for a while longer until it finally becomes too dark to see. He pauses, planting his boots into the soft ground beneath him. He grips the straps of his backpack tightly—careful not to crush the rose he’s holding—as he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, heart beginning to pump wildly with anticipation. This is it. This is the moment where he’ll find out for sure if all of this preparation, and the hope he let build up, has been for nothing. He’s a little scared of opening his eyes, squeezing them even tighter as he thinks about how disappointed he’ll be if he doesn’t see that white glow the book mentioned. 

He sits at his desk, finishing up the letter he decided to leave for Mike. Richie knows it’s not a good idea to just up and disappear without a word. He didn’t have it in him to worry his friends like that. He also wants to make sure Mike doesn’t think he’s gone crazy, wants to tell him exactly what he was going to do. Despite the detailed explanation he was leaving, he still worries that Mike will ignore the letter and report him as a missing person. In a last minute effort to avoid this, he decides to leave the book next to the letter—he doesn’t need it anymore, he has the whole book memorized by now—and hopes that all they had been through with the fucking clown that took Eddie from him would be enough to convince Mike that this wasn’t him going crazy. That he might just really be able to bring Eddie back to them.

_ Wait until late spring. You’ll want it to be warm out when you return. _

It’s been three months since he found the book. He’s had time to gather everything he needs for his journey, but he finds himself checking for the millionth time that day to make sure that there isn’t anything he’s missing. He bought the white rose today, wanted to make sure it was as fresh as possible so that it won’t die on him too quickly. Richie isn’t sure how long this journey will take, but if it’s supposedly going to be warm when he—_ they _ return, it couldn’t possibly be any later than three months. After all, it’s already May and it’s warmest in Derry between June and August.

As he continues to think about the logistics of his trip, he laces up his hiking boots, an expensive pair he bought especially for this trip. “_ Put on some good hiking boots. You’ll be walking for a while _,” he repeats to himself with a sigh. He isn’t looking forward to all the walking, hates anything that requires physical exertion, but for Eddie, he would walk to the ends of the earth. 

Richie slides his fingers over the cover of the book one last time and closes his eyes as he silently prays to any God that will listen for everything to work out. He hitches his backpack on, silently cursing at the weight of it as he grabs for his keys and the white rose. He takes one final look at his desk before closing the door and locking it. He makes his way down the stairs and over to the front desk, where the receptionist is reading a book to pass the time. She looks up as he clears his throat, smiling at him.

“How can I help you today Richie?” She asks sweetly as she eyes the rose and backpack curiously.

“I’ll be going away for a little while, so I wanted to turn in my key so you can give it to Mike for me.” He smiles back, handing over his key as he continues to explain, “He’ll be coming to pay the room for me while I’m gone, so please don’t kick my things to the curve!”

“Oh! Of course, you don’t need to worry about all that. I’ll make sure your room is left unbothered.”

“Thanks, I’ll see you when I get back.” He nods at her before turning to leave and takes out his phone as he makes his way outside. He needs to text Mike, let him know that there’s something he left for him on his desk and to let himself in. Once he sends the text, he turns off his phone completely and puts it in his backpack.

_ Enter any forest. The denser the better. Walk until the sun goes down. _

He walks until he reaches the entrance to the forest where he and his friends spent most of their youth. This was where their clubhouse was hidden, where he spent most of his time pretending to fight over a stupid hammock with Eddie. He secretly loved the way Eddie would get mad over Richie going over his allotted ‘hammock time’ and would just say ‘fuck it’ and climb in with him, tangling their legs together. Richie found any excuse he could so that he could touch Eddie. The hammock allowed him the perfect opportunity to do so. No one would ever suspect him of having feelings for his best friend, right?

Richie makes his way through the forests as he continues to think about growing up with Eddie. How every year they spent together made him fall more and more in love with his best friend. He also thinks about how he wishes he had told Eddie how he felt about him. During his youth, before he . . . Richie shakes his head in an effort to rid himself of those somber thoughts. There isn’t any use in being regretful, in thinking about how he wishes he could change what he didn’t say or didn’t do in the past. Especially when he has an opportunity to bring Eddie back and tell him what he couldn’t before. This is his opportunity to finally be brave, to proudly say what he’s been holding deep within his heart for years.

The further he walks, the denser the forest gets and the more nervous he begins to feel. He has long passed the clubhouse, now in territory he’s unfamiliar with. He looks up, the beautiful soft red hue of the sky alerting him that it was now golden hour. He realizes that it will finally be dark soon and stops to think back to what the book said to do next. 

_ Look to your left when it becomes too dark to see. You will see a white glow in the distance. Walk towards it. _

It isn’t quite too dark yet. He can still see everything in front of him, so he continues to walk straight ahead for a while longer until it finally becomes too dark to see. He pauses, planting his boots into the soft ground beneath him. He grips the straps of his backpack tightly—careful not to crush the rose he’s holding—as he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, heart beginning to pump wildly with anticipation. This is it. This is the moment where he’ll find out for sure if all of this preparation, and the hope he let build up, has been for nothing. He’s a little scared of opening his eyes, squeezing them even tighter as he thinks about how disappointed he’ll be if he doesn’t see that white glow the book mentioned. 

He shakes thought of phony magical books and Eddie’s death being “his time” from his head as he steadily inhales and exhales. _ “The book is real and it wasn’t Eddie’s time to die,” _ he thinks to himself as he slowly opens his eyes. He looks to his left, squints as his eyes begin to adjust to the darkness that has engulfed the forest. His heart hasn’t stopped beating wildly, he suspects it won’t for a while. As his eyes completely adjust, it becomes easier to make out a soft glow of white light off in the distance. He gasps, heart picking up even more at the sight. There it is, there it is! The white light he’d been hoping to see, the clear sign that he needed. 

Richie begins to walk toward the glowing white light, stopping himself from rushing towards it as he remembers the warning in the book, “_ Be careful where you step. Some woods like to trip you.” _ He treads carefully, refusing to let the forest get the best of him. He isn’t sure if the forest is on his side just yet, and he refuses to let his guard down. Not until he safely reaches the white glow that promises to take him to Eddie. _ Eddie _. That’s right, the book said that this is the moment where he’s supposed to remember Eddie’s name, say aloud how much he misses him and why he wants him back.

He chants Eddie’s name for a couple minutes as he gathers his thoughts, deciding what he wants to say. He exhales a shaky breath before he finally begins to say everything he’s bottled up since the day Eddie died. 

“Eddie...Eds...I’ve missed you so fucking much since you’ve been gone. I-I honestly can’t even express how much I do. It feels like a part of me- like a piece of my heart was ripped from my chest the day you died. I haven’t been whole since. There isn’t a single night that I don’t lie awake at night thinking about you. About the things I wish I had said, should have confessed. I could never imagine a life without you in it. I still can’t. You’re a part of me Eds and I need you back so I can be whole again. I wasted so much time hiding my feelings for you and then...and then we both went off to college and that stupid fucking clown- It’s curse made us forget each other. Even then, I felt like something important was missing from my life. It’s exactly how I feel right now. Except this time you’re gone gone and I...”

He stops walking as the glowing white light begins to disappear and begins to panic. Where did it go? He needed to get to Eddie, and that light was the only guide he had leading Richie to him. His eyes widen as he begins to remember what the book said would happen next and he begins to calm down.

_ The glow will disappear once you reach it. When it does, turn on your flashlight and sit down. _ _Place the flashlight next to you and go to sleep._

The glowing white light disappearing is a _ good _ thing. He reassures himself of this as he carefully sits down on the cold forest ground. He shivers, quickly zipping up his jacket before taking off his backpack and setting it in front of himself. Richie opens it quickly, rummaging through it until his fingers settle on the cold metal of the flashlight he packed. He sighs in relief as he turns it on, grateful that he remembered to put fresh batteries in it that morning. He places it next to him, refusing to look out into the distance for fear of seeing something he didn’t want to see. He reaches into his backpack again to pull out a blanket and lays down on the cold, hard ground. He rests his head on his backpack, covering himself with the blanket as he begins to repeat “don’t be afraid” to himself.

He doesn’t feel tired, at least he didn’t think he was. He stops chanting as a sudden wave of fatigue hits him out of nowhere and his eyes begin to blink rapidly in an effort to put a stop to the drowsiness that begins to quickly envelop him. He’s scared of falling asleep in a dark ass forest—can you blame him?—with nothing but a heavy metal flashlight as protection. He can’t help it though, he’s fucking tired, he feels it now. His legs ache and his head is pounding and it all suddenly hits him. As he finally gives in and begins to drift off to sleep, the last thing he thinks to himself is:

_ Do not be afraid. If you’ve made it this far, then the forest is on your side. It will not let you be harmed. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope y'all enjoyed the update! lemme know what you think in the comments :') 
> 
> you can find me on tumblr @realstephenking


	3. The House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie knows about how a grieving Orpheus, blinded by sorrow, journeyed through the underworld in search of his love. He knows how Orpheus fucked up at the last minute, looking behind him to make sure that Eurydice was in fact there, only to lose her forever. Orpheus was impatient, untrusting. He made the mistake of thinking that getting the love of his like back from the dead would be a simple task.
> 
> Richie knows this isn’t a simple task. He knows he will not be making the same mistakes as Orpheus. Being cautious was natural, something inevitable. Who even goes into the underworld expecting everything to be easy anyway? As if you could just strut in and say, “Alright, I’m here to take my loved one back thank you peace out Hades!” without any difficulty. This next leg of his journey will be challenging, but if he plays his cards right, follows the instructions in the book to the letter, he will not be leaving the underworld alone.

He wakes up slowly to the sound of birds chirping all around him and snuggles into his blanket as a slight breeze begins to send a shiver down his spine. It makes him uncomfortable in a way that he isn’t quite sure how to place. It’s almost as if the chill running through his spine has nothing to do with the wind, and more to do with the knowledge of the inevitable rest of the journey he’s about to embark on. 

In his opinion, the white glow was the easiest part of the journey. All he had done so far was walk through a forest until he found a light that he needed to follow. Now though, Richie will actually have to go into the underworld. He will have to go and get Eddie back and be careful not to fuck anything up. He isn’t stupid. Sure, he likes to act like an idiot, gets paid to make stupid jokes and make an audience laugh. Even so, he knows all about the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.

Richie knows about how a grieving Orpheus, blinded by sorrow, journeyed through the underworld in search of his love. He knows how Orpheus fucked up at the last minute, looking behind him to make sure that Eurydice was in fact there, only to lose her forever. Orpheus was impatient, untrusting. He made the mistake of thinking that getting the love of his like back from the dead would be a simple task.

Richie knows this isn’t a simple task. He knows he will not be making the same mistakes as Orpheus. Being cautious was natural, something inevitable. Who even goes into the  _ underworld _ expecting everything to be easy anyway? As if you could just strut in and say, “Alright, I’m here to take my loved one back thank you peace out Hades!” without any difficulty. This next leg of his journey will be challenging, but if he plays his cards right, follows the instructions in the book to the letter, he will not be leaving the underworld alone.

He squeezes his eyes shut as a ray of blinding sunlight hits his face. It’s definitely morning, which means it’s time for him to get up and leave. He sits up with a groan, stretching his arms up until he hears a loud pop. The forest may be on his side, but the ground is unforgiving on his aging body. He is not made to spend a night on the cold hard ground of a forest floor. Hopefully, he will never have to do it again. He  _ couldn’t _ . If the myths were anything to go by, he only had one chance at this. Orpheus, the fucking son of Apollo, wasn’t even allowed to enter the underworld twice so what made him, a simple mortal, any more special?

Richie grabs for his flashlight, switching it off and placing it into his backpack. He’s too caught up in comparing himself to Orpheus to notice the fairy ring that’s next to him. When he goes to place the blanket back into his bag as well, he finally sees it. He scrambles up on his feet quickly as he eyes it warily. 

_ You will be standing just outside of a fairy ring. Do not enter it. _

He stays standing for a couple minutes, staring at it in wonder. This was the entrance to the underworld. It’s a scary thought, and he finds himself feeling panicked the more he thinks about how he’ll no longer be in the world of the living soon. He’ll still be very much alive, won’t belong there at all. It’s only natural that he feel scared. Right? After all, he only knows what he’s read in the book, and it doesn’t go into much detail on what exactly he could encounter down there.

Richie sits back down, eyes still fixed on the fairy ring as he makes himself comfortable again. Finally tearing his eyes away from the ominous fairy ring, he looks through his backpack for some food and water. He isn’t very hungry, but he knows he has to eat. This is his last opportunity to do so. He bites into the sandwich he prepared and chews quickly. Despite his fear, he’s eager to continue on and finally reunite with Eddie. He takes a couple sips of water from the water bottle he packed before capping it back up securely. He leaves it at his feet and digs through his bag again for the other food he packed. Food that wouldn’t go bad while he’s gone. He puts it down next to the water and gets up once again, groaning as his knees protest.

_ Step into the ring and place the quarter on the ground, tails up. Tell your loved one you are coming for them. They will not hear you. _

He pats his pants down, getting rid of the dirt before he makes his way to the center of the fairy ring. Digging through his pocket, he smiles triumphantly when his fingers bump against the cold rigid quarter he made sure was there the previous morning. He turns it in his hand, making sure it’s tails up before he places it on the ground in front of him. Richie closes his eyes, tries to visualize a happy and alive Eddie as he says, “I’m coming for you Eds.”

Richie doesn’t see it, but the quarter slowly sinks into the ground as he continues to think of only Eddie. When he opens them again, the quarter is gone and he thinks back to what he’s supposed to do next. That’s right, the book said it would be very cold down there. He takes out a coat from his backpack and quickly pulls it on, immediately feeling uncomfortable in it. The sun is shining bright above him, hitting him relentlessly with every ray of light that passes through the trees.

_ Close your eyes and imagine that you are sinking into the ground. Do not open them until you smell smoke. When you open your eyes, you will be underground. A tunnel will stretch out before you. _

Just like the book said to do, he tries to imagine that he’s sinking into the ground as his eyes remain closed. He feels the shift around him, but is surprised to find out that he doesn’t actually  _ feel _ like he’s really sinking. He doesn’t have the urge to open his eyes and grab onto the nearest thing he can find to stop himself from falling. It isn’t until a faint smell of smoke slowly begins to overwhelm him that he knows it’s time to open his eyes. 

He wrinkles his nose at the odor as images of Eddie saying “those things'll kill ya Rich!” come to his mind. He stopped smoking long ago. He wasn't sure what had made him quit—not until now—only that just the sight of a cigarette made him feel something odd in the pit of his stomach. When he finally opens his eyes, shaking memories of Eddie away, it’s too see a pitch black tunnel in front of him. Richie squints, trying to get a clearer look at what might be lurking in the shadows only to remember that he had a flashlight with him. 

_ Replace the batteries in your flashlight. It will get dark very soon. Follow the tunnel. You will feel cold. This is normal.  _

He places the stem of the white rose between his teeth—no thorns, again he’s not a total idiot—as he searches for his flashlight and extra batteries. Swiftly, he changes out the batteries as instructed and turns on the flashlight, aiming towards the tunnel before him. With a shaky breath, he begins to make his way forward, walking carefully and very cautious of his surroundings.

Richie is shaking, and he knows this time it is because of the cold. While he may have been cursing the coat he was wearing just a few minutes ago outside, right now he’s singing its praises and zipping it up as best as he can. He can feel how cold his face is growing and his hands begin to ache with the need for warmth, but he continues on, walking further and further into the depths of the underworld. 

_ You will soon come across a small house. Knock on the door. A dark-haired woman will open it. There is something wrong with her eyes. Do not stare. She will ask you for something pretty. Give her the rose. _

He spots a small, dilapidated house up ahead and slows down as he takes it in. It’s dark and looks as if time has done it no favors. It kind of reminds him of...neibolt house. His heart begins to race at that, thoughts beginning to run wild with scary thoughts. What if It wasn’t dead and it was fucking with Richie, making him think he had a chance at saving Eddie only to kill him on sight? No, there was no way...right? It was dead, their fading scars were proof of that. 

Richie takes and deep breath and says “fuck it” before making his way to the front door of the small house and knocking three times. He waits, heart still beating a mile a minute, until a dark haired woman with eyes as white as orbs answers the door. He quickly looks away, remembering that he’s not supposed to stare at her. He doesn’t want to know what would happen if he continued to stare into those eyes, too scared of the consequences and if the unknown. For all he knew, this lady could be a demon in disguise and able to kill him with just one swift movement.

“Hello dear, do you have something pretty for me?” She asks sweetly as she looks at him expectantly. She has a smile on her face that only works to make Richie feel even more uneasy.

“Yes, as a matter of fact I do!” He responds as he presents her with the white rose he had been holding since the beginning of his journey. She takes it graciously and brings it up to her nose, closing her eyes as she sniffs it.

_ She will smile at you and invite you in for something to eat. Enter the house, but politely refuse any food. Talk to her for a while. She likes the company. She’ll tell you a secret. Pretend that it doesn’t bother you. _

The woman opens her eyes, looking at Richie as she smiles at him. Richie squirms a little as she does so, feeling very exposed under her gaze for some reason can’t quite comprehend. It’s as if she’s reading him. Not his thoughts, but his soul perhaps. She hums in approval, a clear sign that she’d found whatever she’d been searching for in Richie. She pushes open the door to her house wide, stepping to the sign and motioning for him to go in as she says, “Come in Richie, I’ve been expecting you.”

He draws in a sharp breath as dread begins to creep into the pit of his stomach, churning and uncomfortable. Richie would be stupid not to feel scared at her words, at the implication behind them. She had known he was coming, but  _ how _ ? He stays still, battling with himself over whether he should actually go in or not. He’s fucking scared, worried this is all just a trap, but another part of him knows he can’t back out now, not when he’s come so far for Eddie. This is who he’s doing all this for in the first place—for Eddie.

Reluctantly, he begins to step forward ever so cautiously. She motions him forward again, placing a gentle and encouraging hand on his upper back as he finally crosses the threshold of the small house. She leads him towards her living room, where she leaves him to sit on the sole couch in the room. “I just put some cookies in the oven a while ago, would you like some my dear?”

“No thank you, I just ate a really big lunch.” He says with an apologetic look on his face. He rubs at his stomach for emphasis, making a pained expression as if it would physically pain him to eat any more. “I really appreciate your kind offer though!”

He needs to be polite, he doesn’t want to anger her in any way. Once again, the book didn’t elaborate on what would happen if he somehow fucked up this interaction, and so the only thing left to do was be cautious as fuck. She smiles at him again, almost knowingly, and sits down next to him on the couch. Richie looks around the room, fascinated by all the odds and ends littered on top of tables and even the windowsill. There’s no specific theme, just a bunch of miscellaneous items that almost seem as if they belong to more than one person, someone who isn’t this woman sitting next to him. 

She grabs his attention before he can finish processing the chilling thought, and they begin conversing as if they were old friends from college catching up on how each other’s lives have been going. She asks about him, requests that he tell her some jokes once Richie tells him that he’s a comedian. He complies, offering up jokes that were completely different from what he had been telling on his most recent tours. These jokes are genuine, straight from his mind and not from a writing room full of people that don’t know the real him. He doesn’t know why, but the longer he talks to the woman, the more comfortable he feels and the more genuine he feels he can be. There’s nothing to hide with her, after all, he’s pretty sure she’d  _ know _ if he wasn’t being honest.

“Thank you for taking your time to talk to me dear.” She says after a while. He’s looking around the room again, eyes transfixed on the odd items around the room. The woman watches him, studying his curious gaze and nods her head in understanding. “Can I tell you a secret Richie?”

Richie snaps his head back, looking at her with wide eyes. What could she possibly want to confide in him? Would it be something bad? Or maybe something that would help him on his journey? He isn’t sure how to respond, so he just shakes his head eagerly, ready to absorb whatever words the woman was about to grace him with.

“These items,” She begins to say as she gestures around the room, “belong to others who have come before you. They belong to people who were not successful in completing their journey to retrieve their loved one.”

Richie gasps, hands trembling beside him at the words. He’s sure his heart is going to give out with the amount of times he’s exerted it today, but all he can do is stare in shock at the woman as the beating of his heart becomes the only thing he can hear. It overwhelms him, muffles anything else the woman could possibly say to him. He needs to get out, leave this house before his fate becomes the say. Before he can even begin to run towards the door and leave the house behind, the woman places a cold hand on his own shaking hand.

“Are you okay?” She asks with concern. He remembers a line from the book, echoing in his head as he tries not to freak out— _ Pretend that it doesn’t bother you _ . He shakes his head and attempts to paint a calm smile on his otherwise nervous face. She squeezes his hand before letting go, and returns the smile he gives her. “You have nothing to worry about Richie. I have faith in you, your intentions are pure and genuine.”

_ Eventually, she will give you an item. I do not know what it will be. It’s different for everyone. Thank her for being so kind. She wasn’t always like this. Say goodbye and exit the house. Continue down the tunnel. _

This calms Richie, and he lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in. He thanks her, a whisper that’s barely audible, but she seems to hear anyway. She motions for him to give her his hand, and Richie does so immediately. She places something in his hand, and Richie feels the cold metal before he sees it. It’s a coin, that much he can tell. He furrows his eyebrows in confusion as he begins to inspect it and then gasps. It’s not just a regular coin, it’s not a coin at all. It’s an arcade token, much like the ones he used to beg his mom for money for so he could spend his summer days at the arcade, playing street fighter.

The token holds bittersweet memories for Richie, ones he’d rather forget and others that he wished he hadn’t. It was in that arcade, where he spent most of his time, that he realized who he really was. Richie was gay. He found out the hard way that being himself was a dangerous way to live. He was humiliated, exiled from one of the only happy places he had while not speaking with the other Losers. He was forced to admit to himself that who he was, may not be who he should be. At least, that’s what he used to think.

Richie was also forced to come to terms with the feelings he had for his best friend that day. That unpleasant encounter in the arcade lead to a trip to the kissing bridge, where he etched his heart out on the white wood. R + E. The words seemed to taunt him as he finished carving, nervously looking around to make sure he wasn’t found out. This was the only way, the only time, he would allow himself to express his true feelings. He could be vulnerable in this one moment, pour his heart out into the splintering wood of the bridge and then never look back. He couldn’t, not when shame hovered around him, following him like a shadow.

That was the old Richie. The scared Richie. The Richie that felt like he had to hide his dirty little secret, when it wasn’t dirty at all. The only fear left within Richie, had nothing to do with his sexuality, but everything to do with losing Eddie forever. His fear, his refusal to let himself come to terms with who he was—who he loved—lead to wasted years where he could have been happy with Eddie. Even now, Richie wasn’t one hundred percent sure that Eddie returned his feelings, could only guess from their last interaction before his death and his own heart telling him  _ ‘Yes, Eddie loved you back.’ _

“Thank you for your kindness” Richie finally says to the woman when he’s done processing his feelings. He holds the token in his hand, making sure to hold it carefully. It’s a little charred, which surprises him, and he’s suddenly aware of the reason why. This isn’t just a random token, it’s the same one he had used in the ritual of Chüd. He chuckles at this and thinks,  _ ‘why does any of this surprise me anymore?’ _

She leads him to the door, wishing him good luck again a she watches him leave. Richie turns around one last time to wave at her, shouting out his thanks again before turning back and making his way down the dark tunnel once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i couldn't find anyone who wanted to beta my shitty writing lol so hope this wasn't too bad!
> 
> my chapters for this fic keep getting longer and longer lmao like literally this chapter is as long as the other two combined and i'm...sorry but also like...that's good i guess?
> 
> eddieways, let me know what you think in the comments, please it keeps me motivated!
> 
> you can find me on tumblr @photoboothreddie (yes i changed it again i'm sorry for my sins)

**Author's Note:**

> i've been thinking about this for weeks and finally decided to write it. hopefully y'all enjoyed it! 
> 
> you can find me on tumblr @realstephenking if you wanna talk to me about this and comments are always appreciated!
> 
> fic based on [this](https://hgk477.tumblr.com/post/187209524924/how-to-bring-someone-back-from-the-dead) post


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